Keeping Rivalries Aside, Former Aussie Adversary Wants Virat Kohli To Score One More Ton In Australia – News18

Last Updated:November 18, 2024, 00:25 IST

Johnson who had a fierce rivalry with Kohli at the time recalled what it was like playing against the Indian batter and what made him unique.

The former Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson reflected on his battles with the Indian icon Virat Kohli when the two were up against each other during the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series Down Under. At the time, Kohli had much to prove as he had taken over as the Test skipper from MS Dhoni.

Johnson who had a fierce rivalry with Kohli at the time recalled what it was like playing against the Indian batter and what made him unique.

In a column for West Australian, Johnson wrote, “One of Kohli’s attributes stood out early to me above all others – he was up for the fight!”

“That kind of aggressive attitude was something we had rarely seen from an Indian player at that point. We were used to giving it but didn’t always get it back in return,” he added.

The kind of aggression that Kohli had in his game was something Johnson believed was spread over to the rest of the team which according to the former Aussie international, showed them how to play ‘tough cricket’.

The 43-year-old also claims that the two had a similar way of playing the game where they took on the challenge without backing down. Looking at the current context, Johnson pondered whether the situation would be too much for the 36-year-old.

Kohli comes into the Australia series under a lot of pressure. Barring his half-century in the T20 World Cup 2024 final, he has not been scoring the big runs as he has done previously. In Tests, he has also been far from his best having scored just 250 runs in the six Tests in 2024. Kohli’s last Test century came against the West Indies in July 2023.

The Indian veteran would want to get back amongst the runs with India’s chances of securing a spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) for the 2023-25 cycle hanging in the balance as India would need to win four Tests and also draw one in the final five games of the season.

Johnson retired from international cricket with his final Test in November 2015. With the rivalry aside, he suggested that he would like to see Kohli get one more century on Australian soil, but as a player, he might not have wanted that.

India begins their five-match Test series against Australia on November 22 with the first game being played at the Optus stadium in Perth.